Governor Charlie Baker announced Wednesday the expansion of the COVID-19 vaccine pre-registration system to include some regional collaboratives and also improved features to allow for vaccination location selection during appointment booking.

According to a press release from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, later this week, the Commonwealth’s preregistration system will expand to include the first regional collaboratives to the system. The Amherst/Northampton and Marshfield regional collaboratives will be the first to come online, and more regional collaboratives are working with the Command Center and tech teams to ensure they meet the operational and technological requirements to be added to the preregistration system.

The user experience for the preregistration system will again change next week for people who are contacted with the opportunity to book appointments. People will have the opportunity to select their vaccination location before proceeding to select from available appointments.

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To date, around 1.5 million people have preregistered using the system, with over 800,000 having been contacted with the opportunity to book appointments. The Baker-Polito Administration will continue to make improvements to the system in the weeks ahead, to make the process even easier as more people become eligible.

Starting on April 19th, anyone in Massachusetts who hasn't received a first vaccine dose will be allowed to preregister for an appointment. As of Wednesday, more than 2.5 million people in Massachusetts, or about 36 percent of the state’s population, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Go HERE to get the details on how to schedule and prepare for your appointment.

Here are some tips for self-care during the pandemic:

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